What do the ‘mean girls’ have to hide, asks Reynolds, as Wong and Gallagher erased from claim
A mysterious demand by Labor heavyweights Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher to be scrubbed from Linda Reynolds’ legal action has reignited tensions over the Brittany Higgins case.
Linda Reynolds has questioned why Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher demanded their names be removed from her action against the commonwealth, amid claims the Albanese government manoeuvred to ensure the former Liberal minister was unable to defend herself against allegations by Brittany Higgins.
The two Labor ministers were not named as parties to Ms Reynolds’ action, but their conduct in parliament had been mentioned in an earlier statement of claim.
“I can’t help but wonder why they are so incredibly sensitive and what they may have to hide,” Ms Reynolds told The Australian.
The mysterious move has reignited the bitter “mean girls” saga that erupted over claims the two senators had belittled the late senator Kimberley Kitching when she opposed Labor’s plan to weaponise the rape allegation against the Morrison government.
Ms Reynolds is suing the commonwealth over its conduct in Ms Higgins’ compensation case, claiming the Labor government’s $2.4m payout had the effect of “publicly affirming” Ms Higgins’ false allegations against her.
The former defence minister alleges the commonwealth and its lawyers, HWL Ebsworth, were in breach of their duty to act in her best interests when they settled Ms Higgins’ claim after a one-day mediation from which the senator was excluded by then attorney-general Mark Dreyfus.
Ms Reynolds claims the commonwealth should have known that Ms Higgins was making serious and damaging allegations against her, including of an alleged attempt to cover-up a rape for political purposes.
As evidence of that, Ms Reynolds had cited Ms Higgins’ first statements to the media, noting that this “in turn was the subject of questions asked by Senator Katy Gallagher and Senator Penny Wong in federal parliament during question time on 15 February 2021.”
However, government solicitors told Ms Reynolds’ lawyers they wanted the reference to the two senators stricken from the statement of claim, which Ms Reynolds accepted in order to avoid further costs and delays.
“I find it astonishing, even for Labor, that after reviewing all the bombshell revelations about the Labor Government’s actions contained in my statement of claim, the only issue their solicitors wanted removed from public scrutiny was a reference to public statements made by Senators Wong and Gallagher,” Ms Reynolds told The Australian.
The government has thrown extraordinary resources into opposing Ms Reynolds’ claim, hiring two of the best, and most expensive, barristers to fight the case.
Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson SC, reportedly able to command $25,000 a day and most recently in the news for selling his Bondi home with a price guide of $12m, heads a team that also includes top silk Ruth Higgins.
Ms Reynolds’ former chief of staff, Fiona Brown, who has also filed a claim against the commonwealth over its handling of the false claims against her, is facing a similar level of extended legal firepower – in sharp contrast, observers say, to the rapid multimillion-dollar settlement with Ms Higgins.
The cost to the taxpayer, from legal expenses in Ms Reynolds’ and Ms Brown’ cases, could well run into the millions.
Last month, Ms Reynolds wrote to the presiding officers of both houses of parliament asking for a parliamentary inquiry into the Brittany Higgins scandal that would include an investigation into whether Senator Wong and Senator Gallagher misled parliament after the story broke in February 2021.
“The Senate chamber transformed into a Roman colosseum”, the former defence minister said in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the president of the Senate asking for a joint inquiry into parliament’s handling of the allegations.
“I was fed to the lions. Labor senators bayed for my blood and other senators watched in silence. Parliament allowed Labor senators and members to conflate and weaponise (Ms Higgins’) allegations under the cover of Parliamentary Privilege,” Ms Reynolds wrote.
She says she has not heard back from the Speaker or president, except for a cursory email that told her she had addressed the officers in the wrong order.
Labor figures had always denied previous knowledge of the allegations, and at a Senate estimates hearing on June 4, 2021, Senator Gallagher angrily rejected Ms Reynolds’ claim she was tipped off about them before they were made public.
“No one had any knowledge – how dare you,’’ she told Ms Reynolds. However, in texts later revealed by The Australian, Ms Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, messaged her on February 11, 2021, four days before she appeared on The Project:
“Katy is going to come to me with some questions you need to prepare for … She’s really invested now.”
After the texts were revealed, Senator Gallagher admitted she was “provided with information in the days before the allegations were first reported”.
She apologised – but only for Ms Reynolds being “upset about everything that’s happened to her”.
When Ms Reynolds delivered her final speech to the Senate in March, bowing out of politics after 11 years, every Labor senator in the chamber, bar two who were required to stay under Senate rules, turned their backs and walked out.
“I was shocked,” Ms Reynolds said, adding: “On reflection, their disrespect speaks louder than my words ever could as to the character of Labor senators.”
